Restaurants Blog

Healthier foods can be found at The Auckland Food show

The Food Show is one of the best events where we can catch up on what's new in food. What I've noticed this year is that there were even more people making excellent products and trying to keep them healthy and natural.

Being healthy and natural doesn't necessarily mean that it's low in fat though. But I think that's ok because everything should be enjoyed in moderation.

My current way of thinking, is that I am not going to deny myself something just because it is high in fat. It is all about moderation, self-control and exercise. (That's my excuse so that I can continue enjoying ice cream and chocolate.) While I will try and cook and eat things that are healthy and tasty most of the time, if there's a d'lish looking cake I will sneak in a little piece. It just means that I'll have to work harder at Zumba to burn it off!

So with that in mind, I headed to the Auckland Food Show yesterday to uncover some great products some of which were healthy and natural, and some that weren't :)

The folks at All Good Bananas are having fun, making banana sorbet which consisted of pureed frozen fairtrade, organic bananas and that's all. It was so full of flavour and healthy!

Kokako Organic Coffee are serving up fairtrade coffee at the same stand. Grab yourselves a KeepCup while you're there with the special Food Show price of $16.50 for a KeepCup and coffee.

Who remembers eating honeycomb? I remember spreading honeycomb onto toast when I was little. J Friend & Co has produced the first honeycomb that I have seen in years. Special Food Show price of $15, normally around $18.

My new thing is gourmet yoghurts. The Collective Dairy and Piako brands are so creamy and delicious, it feels like a naughty treat even though it's not! Check out their show specials.

Dollop Puddings are newcomers on the food scene. They are starting off with firm favourites like Molten Chocolate Torte, Zesty Lemon Tart and Sticky Date Pudding. And as a nice nostalgic twist, they have made a Vanilla Bean Custard packaged in a replica old milk bottle.

Celebrity chef demonstrations

If you need to rest your feet, head over to the theatre to watch a celebrity chef or two. This year I saw Peter Gordon and Al Brown. Both are very passionate yet very different. Peter managed to make four dishes in 45 minutes (with the help from two of his chefs from Dine), while Al liked to stop and talk to us and he just managed to finish two dishes.

Having this break for a couple of hours helped me recharge my batteries for the afternoon.

Comments

Looks like you had a great time - I went this year and each time I swear to go without the kids as I could spend an eternity there!The Dollop girls were really interesting - good to see self-starters enjoying their passion (and hopefully thriving).